Day 5: Hong Kong to Kunming

Today was by far the most interesting day so far. There was an intense thunder storm around 4am, which kept me up for an hour, both from the loud noises and some deluded thought that I might be struck by lightning. I was up by 7:15am, and we were out the door at 8:30 to return our key, mail our postcards, and catch our A21 bus. Everything went smoothly. The bus ride was almost an hour, which was dreadful, but it was nice to see a lot of Hong Kong. I’m surprised by how many high rise buildings I saw, most standing at at least 50 levels tall and holding thousands of apartments each. Many were quite far away from downtown, which makes sense with housing prices and how relatively inexpensive the MTR is as well as how populated Hong Kong is.

We arrived at the airport around 9:45, met our tour group, and flew out at noon to Kunming on DragonAir. Our group is made up of 9 people total, a mother son pair, two guys who just graduated college, and an older couple probably in their 50s. Our tour guide is named Kwan. He’s almost 23 years old and super nice. The flight was 2 hours long and one of the best flights I’ve been on- the staff was super nice and friendly.

Anyways, we arrived at Kunming around 2pm and went through immigration. Fun times there.... [insert story here] Anyways... We rode a taxi with Kwan to meet up with the rest of the group. We walked around the imperial gates, and a bar district.

The temperature here is very comfortable, and there is almost no humidity with a slight breeze and the occasional cloud break. I love it! For dinner, we had a Yunnan-style hot pot meal, with 8 different varieties of mushroom in a delicious chicken broth. The girls working there were dressed in traditional clothes and looked no older than 15.

After dinner, we settled into our hotel. We’re staying at a 4 star hotel, which is quite the upgrade from Kowloon Hostel back in Hong Kong. Stephanie and I were amazed when we first walked into the room, so happy to have a big bathroom where our knees didn’t touch the wall when we use the toilet. Also we finally have our own bed each, and everything is pretty comfortable here. I’m really happy we decided to join a tour because it’s a relaxing break from having to always think about logistics, planning where to go next in a big city, and having meals already arranged. Here's Stephanie being super excited about our room. Kwan also helped us book train tickets from Kunming to Guilin, where we’re going next to join another tour after this one ends. We’ll be on an 18 hour train, which I think will be an interesting but fun adventure. We walked about 2 miles afterwards to find an ATM to get Chinese currency but our search did not bring us any luck. We returned to the hotel to exchange money, which was when I found out that the bug spray Alex and Wei lent me had leaked all over my luggage. Now my clothes and hands smell like fruit punch- an overwhelmingly sweet and pungent smell that I’m not too pleased about. I had to repack all my stuff and I am beginning to feel a little funny so I hope that’s not from the Deet that spilled all over. Oh well, I was able to change some of my travelers checks in order to get Chinese RMB and pay Kwan back for buying our tickets. He’s been so helpful and kind to us today, helping us with the situation at the airport, helping to buy train tickets, walking all over Kunming with us in search of ATMs, and translating things for us.

Being in Kunming has reminded me of my time living in Chengdu. The pace here is drastically slower than Hong Kong. Traffic is crazy, with cars showing no mercy to pedestrians. My mother would freak out if she knew how close I was too being hit by a car today, which is just an ordinary everyday event in China. The smells bring me back to a mix of emotions and memories from Tibet and Chengdu. The minority people I’ve seen so far remind me of the Tibetans, but the city reminds me of Chengdu.

I’m excited to try new foods and flavors, and to see new sights. I also hope to gain more courage in speaking Cantonese among the tour group, improving those listening and speaking skills, and also learning more Mandarin. It’s going to be a great trip. We’re only on our 5^th day and I feel like it has been longer. We’ll see how it goes! =) More pictures later!

-b